Flying Start and Labels 4 Kids first worked with each other back in 2008 and so we have witnessed first hand the tremendous growth that managing director Ann-Maree Morrison and her team have experienced and, in fact, are continuing to experience. We talked to Ann-Maree to get an insight into just what makes Labels4Kids one of the most sought after names in labelling children’s possessions.
As a mum of three kids, Ann-Maree experienced first hand the familiar headache of all parents – trying to ensure their children keep hold of clothing and possessions at school and if they don’t, at least being able to prove ownership when items are found. Traditional labelling meant hours of sewing on cotton labels for lots of mums. Felt tip pen marking on non-clothing items resulted in colour running that transferred to clothing and books and the names would of course very quickly fade to oblivion!
Spotting an opening in the market, Ann-Maree created Labels4Kids in 2004/5 to produce a range of vinyl waterproof labels that are microwave, water, steriliser and dishwasher proof and won’t fall off.
“I wanted to fill the gap for high quality, colourful and fun labels, not just for the usual clothing labels but for every other item taken to school,” Ann-Maree told us. She started the company on her own but soon realised that the demand for this type of product meant that she would have to take on more staff to cope and now employs 4 staff in the customer service and administration areas.
Large splat shaped vinyl labels
Ann-Maree feels that the reason for her, and Labels4Kids, success is their unwavering commitment to quality products and quality service. She said, “People want quality. They want service with a smile, efficient and fast ordering that is simple to follow, an easy to find customer service line on the website, no quibble exchange or refund, honesty, clear delivery timings, clear instructions for use and real working labels that are not going to fall off, fade, chip or pucker and Labels4Kids provides all of these things. No one ever succeeded by doing things by half. We do it properly and we pride ourselves on that service.”
To prove Ann-Maree’s words, you only have to look at the awards that the company have received over the last 5 years. In 2012 Labels4Kids was also a finalist in the UK Trade and Industry Exporting for Growth Awards held in Newcastle:
* Entrepreneur of the Year 2011, Women In Retail UK
* Winner of the Online Retail Awards Independent Retailer Website Overall Achievement
Award 2011
* Winner of Internet Retailer of the Year 2010 in the Online Retail Awards
* Dell Small Business Excellence Awards UK 2009 Finalist and only Scottish finalist
* Dell Small Business Excellence Awards UK 2008 Finalist
* Barclays Business Development Idea Finalist 2008
* HSBC Startup Awards Finalist 2008
* “Product of the Year” Finalist for the Natwest Startups Awards 2007
As well as these, Labels4Kids has been accepted into the UK Trade and Industry High Growth Programme for 2012.
So with such a strong base and rapid growth, we asked Ann-Maree in what areas she envisaged Labels4Kids developing in the near future. True to form, her vision and ideas are on a large scale.
“Labels4Kids is strong worldwide but having started in the UK the UK is still our main market. We have a large and expanding European customer base, particularly Ireland and Germany, France and Sweden. We also sell as far abroad as Australia and New Zealand, and the US. We have had an order from someone in the White House in Washington, and orders for the Beijing Olympics for a PR company sending clients to all the different hotels by colour coding their bag tags by hotel!
Labels4Kids is planning to expand further this year internationally and we are selling master franchises by country. We are also working on another upgrade to our website and introducing more payment methods and even more new products.
The industry has become more competitive over the time since we started but we still pride ourselves on having products that actually work well, are high quality and we offer great customer service as shown by our 100% guarantee policy. This is something that is rare these days and gives that added protection. Also we like to keep ahead of the game and keep our product range up to date and continually improving and changing.
Trends in the industry are towards cheaper labels and smaller pack sizes. Labels4Kids does not follow this trend. Many of the cheaper labels on the market are just not being made the same way and do not work well.
Many of our returning customers come to us because we only provide new products that are tried and tested and we have a group of testers who we continually engage for their feedback which is great for us and we really appreciate any of our customer’ feedback, good and bad but always constructive and thought provoking either way. We would rather people tell us what they are thinking and give us a chance to continually improve and keep them happy!
All in all we are looking towards a bright and bigger future with an office move on the cards at some stage to cater for our expansion and we will be adding staff to our close knit, dedicated and really caring name labels team.”
For more information about Labels4Kids you can visit their website.
The home page can be accessed at www.labels4kids.com and this will allow customers to choose from the many personalised labels, giving options on colour and images as well as the owner’s name.
Schools and groups are being encouraged to register as fundraisers so that when parents of pupils place an order, the school receives a commission.
You can also contact Labels4Kids by email on sales@labels4kids.com or by phone on 0845 6440258, or 0333 1234559 for free minutes on mobiles and an answering service 24 hours a day if there is no one able to pick up. They will always answer within 24 hours and normally within a couple of hours during office hours.
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http://www.labels4kids.com/page/testimonials
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